Two From Silver Moon Brewing

I will confess at the outset that until bottles of Silver Moon's beer appeared at Belmont Station, I didn't know it existed. This is a great oversight, particularly given that the brewery's eight years old. Oy. In my defense, they only brewed 1000 barrels last year--all draft--so apparently distribution has been limited. The brewery started bottling earlier this year, and you can now track down 22s in Portland.

Silver Moon Brewing
24 NW Greenwood Avenue
Bend, Oregon 97701
541-388-8331
Hours: 10-6 Mon -Fri, 10-5 Sat.

Silver Moon recently relocated to downtown Bend, where they have a pub featuring live music on Wednesdays and Saturdays as well as pool and a game room. They brew five regular beers: Hound's Tooth Amber, Snake Bite Porter, Bridge Creek Pilsner, Badlands Bitter and the Hob Knob IPA. The porter, amber, and hefeweizen are available at Belmont Station.

Hound's Tooth Amber
I wrote a little about this in an earlier post, where I described my trepidation with the style:

I picked up a couple bottles of Silver Moon's beers this week (reviews to come), one of which is brewed in the dreaded "amber" style. I will confess to a certain weariness as I poured it out, because I'm almost never pleased with ambers.... Ambers seem to have been aimed at people for whom color is about as much information as they need. They are approachable, and their sweetness is enhanced by Cascade hopping, which make them a bit like lemonade. Add some body and you've got a crowd-pleaser, if not a great beer.

What poured out of the bottle, however, was anything but tepid. It's an almond color in the glass, and the aroma is lush--fresh greenery and pepper. The aroma, redolent of English hops, suggested "best bitter" far more than amber (of perhaps because I like best bitters, and I was liking what I inhaled). The flavor balances a mild sweetness and the white peppercorn spicing of the hops. As you continue to drink, the hops gather strength, though never to they do more than nicely balance the malt. I'm probably wrong, but the hops were quite suggestive of Fuggles (therefore probably Willamette), enhancing the English pub quality of the beer. A very nice session and far better than I expected. Rating: A-

Snake Bite Porter
Again, one of the only criticisms I have of this beer is its name. It pours out with great viscosity, suggesting something, er, stouter than a porter. The head is like a cumulo-nimbus over the Wisconsin prairie--thick and foreboding. Again, not suggestive of a porter. The flavor was very roasty, so much so that it went to the point of sour. Okay, if it pours like a stout, foams like a stout, and is roasty like a stout, it ain't a porter. I found the roastiness just a hair too much, but it was a very effective Irish stout--one I would enjoy on a cold winter's eve. Those with images of that other Bend porter in their mind will be momentarily confused when this pours out of the bottle. Still, a fine effort and a distinctive, bold ale. Rating: B

Beers of Summer - Deschutes Twilight

Look down the list of beers Deschutes offers, and you will find the standards of the British ouvre: pale ale, porter, stout, brown. Another traditional style, and one of the three Deschutes first brewed, is bitter. That's a noun, not an adjective:

bitter (n) - An English term for a well-hopped ale, most often on draught. Although examples vary widely, the name implies a depth of hop bitterness. There is usually some acidity in the finish and colour vanes from bronze to deep copper.

By "depth of hop bitterness" one should not read "bitter," which is rather confusing, given that hops are bitter and the name of the beer is bitter. Bitters (noun) are, nevertheless, not particularly bitter (adjective).

They are, in fact, the first in a triumverate stretching through best bitter and terminating and extra special bitter (ESB). Bitters are the sessions of the bunch, weighing in at 3.5 - 4% abv. Best bitters are stronger 4-5% abv, and ESBs positively robust at up to 6% abv. So a traditional bitter will have a layered hop profile, with lots of aroma and flavor to go along with noticeable (if not agressive) bittering.

A good bitter is hard to make, and one of the best was Bachelor Bitter, Deschutes' first (and still available at the brewery). It morphed into the less interesting and bottled Bachelor ESB (which is probably confusing at the brewery), and for years Deschutes has offered no bottled bitters for those of us on the west side of the Cascades. Until Twilight.

Tasting notes
Pours out a slightly hazy honey with a fluffy head. The aroma is a delicious bouquet of scents--floral hoppiness, caramel sweetness, and a touch of peppery spiciness. I wasn't at all surprised to learn it was dry-hopped with Amarillos. (Amarillos are the hop of the moment--all brewers seem to have fallen in love with them. They have a grinding, raspy quality typical of high-alpha hops I don't find pleasant in high concentrations, but as a dry hop, Amarillo is dandy.)

As for the palate--well, Twilight is an impressive follow-up to Bachelor Bitter. They have hedged their bets, giving it a bit more oomph than is strictly legal for the style. Yet even at 5% it has impressive creaminess. The brewery employs four hops (only the Amarillos are identified), and the flavor is layered right through the aftertaste, as the volatile dry-hopped aromas waft around your mouth.

Although clearly a session, it has the gravitas of a larger beer. The image of a well-engineered 4-cylinder car came to mind--small engine, big performance. Deschutes has the knack of creating exceptional beers that wow drinkers without overwhelming them. The kind of beer you hold up, halfway through your third, and remark, "Damn, that's really a good beer." I imagine that if you took a half rack to a party, everyone would congratulate you on your good taste. Consider it a recommendation.

Stats
Hops:Three unknown varieties and Amarillo dry hopping.
Malts: Unknown
Alcohol By Volume:5.0%
Original Gravity: Unknown
BUs: 35
Other: 2003 GABF Gold Medal in the bitter category

Rating
Excellent.